Shade popped into existance in the world, looking around the pony took in the familiar swirling darkness that was this place.

  As the pony expected, an inexplicable earth pony with white glowing eyes stood before him, looking less than amused.

   "What?" Shade asked with a knowing smirk.

   "You defied me again." Daxisle said, his tone low but not very threatening. "Why? What purpose do you think warning Spike and Macintosh of my plans served?"

  "Dramatic build up, of course." Shade pointed out, farther perplexing the deity.

   During his time out and about, Star Shade had more visions of things to come. Of a war, of changelings, of a metropolitan city burning and ransacked with ponies, dogs, minataur and all manner of species looting and pillaging as their home turned to ashes around them. He'd come to accept what he was seeing and what Daxisle had told him. About his life being a "story".

  "Dramatic build up? What concern is that of yours?" The earth pony asked, eyeing his unchained creation skeptically.

  Shade began to fly effortlessly around, almost whimsically he stated: "I've seen what you're doing, what you plan to do, and I thought it would be fun to give a little foreshadowing."

  "Foreshadowing?"

  Shade nodded, completing his lazy circle and beginning another. "Your parts with Malich are the closest thing you have to it, but what's that give Macintosh and Spike to work with? Neither of them know what's going on over there, so how are they supposed to feel about it if they don't know what the future might bring?"

  Daxisle furrowed his brow. "I think I've done well enough in dropping subtle hints on what will soon be happening, thank you."

   Shade chuckled. "Yea, you've done so for yourself, but not for them. Stories are about conveying a point of view through emotional attachment to characters, right? Sure, you may see the connection, but Spike and Macintosh don't, so how are you supposed to empathize with them when you know what's going on and they have no clue?"

  Opening his mouth, Daxisle wanted to respond but couldn't. It was a logical reasoning, what foreshadowing he did do was mainly for the readers to enjoy, not so much the characters themselves to play off of. "Alright, fine, I'll give you that. You still haven't answered why you've done it, though."

  "Didn't I?" Shade asked, now turned over belly up and swimming through the air, confident in his plan.

   "No, what are you planning here?" Daxisle asked, watching the lunar pegasus as he circled around.

   Suddenly, the stallion banked and came to a stop, placing his hooves firmly on the ground and smiling. "Do I look like the kind of pony who has a plan to you?"

   Seeing the deity growing frustrated, Shade's smile turned smug and he slightly taunted his creator with the knowledge that his presence in the story was slowly becoming solid for no other reason than yet another disappearing plotline. "The Federal Senate, Thornberry and Windmane, Sparhawk, I would say Silvia but you managed to work her back in, not that you planned it that way, though. Do you really think it smart to end yet another plot line when you've invested so much in me?"

Daxisle smirked. "You really think me above it?"

   Shade shook his head. "No, no I don't, but I do think you know just how valuable I am to the story."

  Daxisle quirked a brow, giving the pony a look of intrigue.

  "Unlike the rest of them, I'm not bound by the rules of the story. I don't need a reason to do anything, I don't need to be in any particular place to know why something is happening or when it will happen." Shade said coolly, rubbing his hoof against his chest. "I could set up anything I wanted to and nobody could criticize consistency. Because my knowledge of how this story will go is part of my character now."

Shade watched as Daxisle considered the point, one of his major road blocks for the next arc was how he was going to make the dramatic encounters happen between the factions quickly enough to keep them interesting, but also holding a sense of realism that wouldn't over extended the readers suspension of disbelief.

  "Add to that my insanity, and the reason for the things I do also doesn't matter. I'm the wild card, purely chaotic neutral. My loyalties are to my own amusement, evidence by the time I stood idily by as Purple had a go at Candy back when I was looking for the Foal Factory."

   Daxile shook his head. "You know there is no Foal Factory, right?"

   Shade stopped, his face going blank for a second as if trying to process what he'd heard? "I'm sorry, I just blocked out what you said, what?"

  Groaning, the deity earth pony quickly pointed out that Shade's character also held loyalty to Sin, and had done so on multiple occasions throughout the story, if he was to betray Sin, it would be out of character.

  To this Shade merely shrugged. "I've saved Sin's life and the lives of thousands in Canterlot. I think my debt to him is paid. Besides, in that other story, I sat by as-"

  "Oh great, now you're hopping to my other stories too?" Daxisle sighed in exacerbation. "You're becoming the pony version of Deadpool."

  Shade smirked  "Funny enough that you've only heard about him lately because of that-"

  "Yes, yes, everyone already knows about the movie. More to the point, you're strategy has one more flaw in it. The fact that you've formed a friendship with Sin. Yea, you may have started out feeling some form of obligation for him, but you do feel as though he's your friend and someone you care for. To betray him will reflect poorly on you."

   Shade laughed and cackled. "Oh boo hoo, I'll look a little bad for being a liar, what else is new? Besides, I do have some legitimate gripes with him. You know, using me to fight a dragon for starters, lying about Fluffy to manipulate me on multiple occasions?"

   That much was true, Sin's own loyalty to Shade was less than flattering. It wouldn't really be pushing the boundaries for Shade to get a little revenge for all of the times the Federalist had abandoned him and manipulated him. Maybe this little cursed character could prove useful to the plot the deity had in mind.

     "Hmmm, very well my friend, I'll allow it."

   Smirk intensifying, the bat pony nodded in satisfaction before he was popped out of existence.

Next Chapter: Third Encounter Estimated time remaining: 17 Minutes